Cobra (novel series)

Zahn, Timothy. Cobra. 1985. Available with Cobra Strike as Cobras Two. Riverside, NJ: Baen/Simon & Schuster, 1992. Series as of 2020: Cobra, Cobra Strike, Cobra Bargain, Cobra Alliance, Cobra Guardian, Cobra Gamble, Cobra Slave, Cobra Outlaw. Cobra Trilogy available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, as of June 2020 here.[1] Initial Cobra available in Kindle, audiobook, and MP3CD here.[2]

Premise according to John J. Pierce has it that

the demands of interstellar war call for the creation of an elite force of cyborg soldiers with built-in laser weapons and power packs to operate them, reinforced bones, even implanted nanocomputers for fire control and combat reflexes. When the war is over, nobody wants them around, and they are exiled to a world of their own; they also pay for their superhuman powers in the unanticipated degenerative diseases of their later years. (Manuscript)

Wikipedia summary begins similarly:

The books center around Cobras, elite soldiers augmented with bionic technology. These modifications include built-in weapons, sensory enhancements, effectively unbreakable bones, and their characteristic combat reflexes. These modifications to the human body are invisible to casual inspection, and allow the soldiers to appear as ordinary unarmed civilians, allowing them to be effective resistance leaders. However, most of the cybernetics are permanent, allowing Zahn to examine the position these individuals might fill in a society during peacetime.[3]

Note for future war and the motif of cyborg soldiers, as e.g., the largely contemporaneous Legion of the Damned novel (1993) and following series. Cf. and contrast fighting suits, as in Starship Troopers and The Forever War.

RDE, with thanks to JJP, 28June20